Every year, the Recording Academy and the brightest stars in the music industry gather in Los Angeles to celebrate the annual Grammy Awards. Here, artists, singers, and writers alike are recognized by the academy and honored for their creativity and innovation. The 2025 ceremony was quite a night.
A rock band called Dawes opened the ceremony alongside Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, John Legend, Brittany Howard, and St. Vincent. They performed a cover of the Randy Newman track “I Love L.A.” to pay tribute to the devastation of the recent Los Angeles wildfires. Trevor Noah returned as the host of the show for the fifth time and instructed viewers and attendees to donate to the MusiCares Fire Relief fund.
The show features performances by Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter. Eilish sang her song “Birds of a Feather” against a backdrop that illustrated California’s natural beauty. Roan performed her hit track “Pink Pony Club” atop a huge pink horse, her dancers dressed as rodeo clowns. Carpenter shared a theatrical performance of a jazz rendition of her pop song “Espresso”.
Beyonce took home Best Country Album for “Cowboy Carter” against genre leaders like Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wison, and Post Malone. Eminem, J. Cole, Pete Rock, Common, Future, Metro Boomin’, and Doechii were nominated for Best Rap Album. The award was given to Doechii for her album “Alligator Bites Never Heal”. Doechii was the third female to win Best Rap Album in Grammy history.
Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga teamed up to sing an emotional version of the Mama’s and the Papa’s haunting song “California Dreamin’” to pay tribute to the victims of the wildfires before taking home the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Pop Solo performance was given to Sabrina Carpenter for “Espresso”, though she rivaled against industry hitmakers Billie Eilish, Beyonce, Charlie XCX, and Chappell Roan.
Before Best New Artist was announced, the nominees who had not yet performed were each given their moment to shine and share their songs on stage. Benson Boone performed his viral song “Beautiful Things” in a Freddie Mercury inspired jumpsuit, doing backflips on stage. Doechii took the stage, dancing to the rap hit “Denial Is A River”. Raye performed her pop-soul track “Oscar-Winning Tears”, delivering a stellar vocal performance. Teddy Swims then calmed the vibe down with his slow country hit “Lose Control”. The award was handed to Chappell Roan and her acceptance speech called out record labels for inadequate benefits and wages.
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” Roan began, “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Song of the Year and Record of the Year was awarded to none other than Kendrick Lamar for his hit diss-track about Drake, “Not Like Us”. The song’s west-coast sound and songwriting ultimately resulted in its victory. During a commercial break, Lady Gaga dropped a brand new single called “Abracadabra”. It’s a pop-house track, possibly signaling Gaga’s return to her “Artpop” or “The Fame” era.
Chris Martin performed during the memorial segment of the show, where fallen artists were remembered and honored. The memorial featured a brief video segment of the recently deceased One Direction star Liam Payne, who tragically passed away at the age of 31. Stevie Wonder, Janelle Monae, Cynthia Erivo, Jacob Collier, and Herbie Hancock performed to honor the late Quincy Jones.
Before Album of the Year was announced, Charlie XCX took the Grammys stage. Her performance started outside the arena as she walked to stage with supermodel Alex Consani and model-musician Gabriette, singing a song from her summer album called “Von Dutch”. She then transitioned to the mainstage, singing another track from the same album called “Guess”. The stage was littered with pioneers and followers of the “indie-sleaze” subculture and other socialites. On stage was disk-jockey, The Dare, actress and model Julia Fox, and internet personality Quenlin Blackwell. Underwear rained onto the stage but was donated to shelters for those impacted by the L.A. fires.
The biggest award of the night, Album of the Year was announced by members of the Los Angeles Fire Department who aided in the efforts to put out the fires earlier this year. In the category was “Cowboy Carter” by Beyonce, “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift, “Short ‘N’ Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Djesse Vol. 4” by Jacob Collier, “New Blue Sun” by Andre 3000, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” by Chappell Roan, “Brat” by Charli XCX, and “Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish.
Beyonce, again, took home the trophy for Album of the Year with “Cowboy Carter”, causing major upset online. Many felt that Billie Eilish was robbed, not winning a single award all night, and should have won the award. Others expressed their desire for Roan or Charli XCX to win, as their albums’ cultural impact was immeasurable.
The night was full of ups and downs, highs and lows, and uplifts and upsets. When music’s biggest stars gather for one night, there are bound to be some collisions.
